Sunday, June 12, 2011

View full sizeIn this July 7, 2010, file photo, oily sand covered beach chairs sit idle on the beach in Orange Beach Ala. The oil washed ashore with the tide overnight, leaving an ugly stain that brought out hundreds of BP workers to clean. One year after the spill, environmentalists differ on the lingering effects from the spill. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Questions about the severity of the Gulf oil spill’s environmental impact have divided officials along state lines and are now creating discord even within coastal Alabama.

Data collected so far show that the spill’s effects have been "minor" east of Louisiana, according to George Crozier, executive director of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab.
Crozier, whose research lab was granted $5 million by BP PLC last year to coordinate environmental studies, said "I would love to screw BP with their own money." But, he said, "I can’t bring myself to exaggerate effects that I can’t document."
Crozier, who announced Friday that he will retire from the Sea Lab later this year, expressed frustration over a letter sent by environmental groups last month to top Obama administration officials. The letter warned of a "growing health crisis" because of the spill. Such claims are unsubstantiated and harmful to the Gulf fishing industry, Crozier said.

View full sizeGeorge Crozier of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab: "I would love to screw BP with their own money." But, he said, "I canât bring myself to exaggerate effects that I canât document." (Press-Register File Photo)

Casi Callaway, whose Mobile Baykeeper group signed on to the letter, said that while it would be irresponsible to "cry wolf," it would also be irresponsible to conclude, "We have no problem; it’s over."
"I am not telling people that we’re sick and dying, and every animal is dead and gone," she said. "I do believe that it is critical that we keep studying."
An estimated 206 million gallons of crude gushed into the Gulf last spring and summer after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank in waters southeast of Louisiana, killing 11 workers.
It quickly drew comparisons to the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster immediately off the Alaskan coast. The Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of oil, but the environmental consequences appear to have been much more devastating, Crozier said.
The fact that the ruptured Gulf well was 5,000 feet underwater and many miles from most shores greatly reduced the potential damage, as did the natural ability of the Gulf ecosystem to consume oil, Crozier said.
Callaway cautioned that it’s too soon to judge the spill’s lasting impact. "We don’t know what the long-term environmental effects are going to be," she said.
Callaway, Crozier, and many across the Gulf agree on at least one point: Louisiana received the most severe environmental blow. Other Gulf states, such as Alabama, were harmed economically, in large part, through losses in tourism and fishing.
The distinction is significant in light of the $5.4 billion to $21.1 billion in Clean Water Act fines expected to be assessed against BP and other parties responsible for the spill.
Lawmakers in Washington are working on a bill to send most of the fine money to the affected Gulf states. But they have bogged down on several points, perhaps chief among them: How much money is doled out for environmental vs. economic restoration, and how much each state receives as a result.
Callaway urged that lawmakers consider both environmental and economic issues in deciding the question. But once states get their money, she said, they need to devote most of it to environmental recovery.
"The economic impact was caused by an environmental disaster, and if we’re going to fix it, we’re going to fix it by fixing our environment," she said.

View full sizeCasi Callaway: "I do believe that it is critical that we keep studying." (Press-Register File Photo)

Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Mobile, expressed concern that Alabama groups pressing for an environmental emphasis could effectively be arguing for the fine money to go elsewhere. "They may well be writing Alabama out of anything," Bonner said.
An aide to Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, said that Shelby is working on a compromise that would give states flexibility in deciding whether to spend on environmental or economic projects. Still, the aide anticipated that the majority of the fine money would go to the environment.
Crozier said he agreed with Callaway that more scientific study is needed, but bristled at what he perceived as a rejection of his findings to date.
It’s useful for Callaway’s fundraising purposes, he said, to depict a dire situation in the Gulf. "I am suspicious of the motives of the people who are afraid to accept the fact that we have so little short-term environmental damage," he said.
Callaway, in turn, questioned Crozier’s motives, noting that oil companies help underwrite the Dauphin Island Sea Lab Foundation.
"It helps George’s fundraising to say we don’t have any damage," Callaway said. "We’re not saying we have damage. We’re asking if we do."

4 comments:

this thing certainly is vulgar by itself...unfortunately, the local public has revered Crozier for a long time, so when he was bought into BP, many continued to do so....At one of the forums last fall,(at Faulkner around the time they were gonna open the Bay for fishing again), he bristled at a biologist bringing up about the corexit, brushing it off as not a health problem and claiming there was no test for corexit (to which a chem professor in the audience said it would be no problem for him to get a test)..as the biologist tried to venture on to speak of what corexit does, i.e., giving examples of dolphins bleeding from their orifices, Crozier moved on to hush the man and to get on with their planned agenda (apparently not really an open forum 2) i saw Crozier on Public TV later in the year actually saying we have a better chance of suffering a shark attack than we do of being harmed by the gulf seafood 3)many times i've seen him on local TV saying the seafood is ok....he is a force to be reckoned with because he has the chutzpah to say some true and bad things about the spill and BP, but will then spin his deceptions (the way a true snake works).... oh my God and there are so many people whose health has been impacted by this/// with the lawsuits going on, Crozier and Fineburg are ramping up their denials for BP....

At a recent convention, in Central Florida, a speaker told of research being done on the sargassum and the creatures that live there. Some of them and some of the plankton show evidence of tiny droplets of oil in their bodies. The long term effects are a concern and are being monitored. I just wish this info was easier to find. Thanks for keeping up with all this.

Who is BP Slick

John L. Wathen, Hurricane Creekkeeper, located in Tuscaloosa County Alabama. I am the enforcement and advocacy branch of the Friends of Hurricane Creek.
Photographer / videographer, I have dedicated my life to exposing the truth about pollution and lack of accountability by the industries and agencies who use our waterways as waste conduits.